The aim of this original review is to highlight and analyze the most recent progress and challenges in the synthesis and surface modifications of superparamagnetic iron oxide (Fe₃O₄) nanoparticles (NPs) for multimodal imaging and therapy applications, which represent important fields in medicine in general and cancer in particular. Thus, the oncology domain is rapidly moving to a more personalized medicine including precision imaging and theranostic approaches. Novel biocompatible Fe₃O₄ nanoparticulate systems have been designed for enhanced and targeted cellular uptake by surface layer coating modifications, to have improved r₂ relaxivity for sensitive magnetic resonance (MR) imaging applications, to have the ability to be used for dual mode imaging, and to be used for imaging-guided cancer therapy. In this review, we analyzed in depth the new strategies for generating biocompatible multifunctional Fe₃O₄ nanoplatforms for both the diagnosis and therapy of cancer.

Overview of the use of dendrimers in combination with encapsulated and conjugated natural products and analogues as anti-cancer agents.

“Janus” dendrimers, i.e.dendrimers constituted of two dendrimeric wedges and terminated by two different functionalities, are reviewed. Both the synthetic aspects and the particular properties afforded by the presence of two different functions in two precise areas of the surface of the Janus dendrimers are reported. This review is organized depending on the type of internal structure (benzyl ether, phenylene, phosphorus, PAMAM, DAB, lysine, alkyl ether, ester, amide, etc.).

Dendrimers are hyperbranched nanosized and precisely defined molecules, attracting increasing attention each year due to their numerous properties in catalysis, materials science, and biology. This tutorial review concerns the use of dendrimers as catalysts and focuses more precisely on their properties as enantioselective catalysts. Emphasis is put on chiral phosphine complexes constituting the core or the end groups of various types of dendrimers. The effect of the location of the catalytic entities, the effect of the size (generation) and the nature of the dendritic skeleton on the enantiomeric excesses are discussed.

As first defensive line, monocytes are a pivotal cell population of innate immunity. Monocyte activation can be relevant to a range of immune conditions and responses. Here we present new insights into the activation of monocytes by a series of phosphonic acid‐terminated, phosphorus‐containing dendrimers. Various dendritic or subdendritic structures were synthesized and tested, revealing the basic structural requirements for monocyte activation. We showed that multivalent character and phosphonic acid capping of dendrimers are crucial for monocyte targeting and activation. Confocal videomicroscopy showed that a fluorescein‐tagged dendrimer binds to isolated monocytes and gets internalized within a few seconds. We also found that dendrimers follow the phagolysosomial route during internalization by monocytes. Finally, we performed fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) experiments between a specifically designed fluorescent dendrimer and phycoerythrin‐coupled antibodies. We showed that the typical innate Toll‐like receptor (TLR)‐2 is clearly involved, but not alone, in the sensing of dendrimers by monocytes. In conclusion, phosphorus‐containing dendrimers appear as precisely tunable nanobiotools able to target and activate human innate immunity and thus prove to be good candidates to develop new drugs for immunotherapies.—Poupot, M., Griffe, L., Marchand, P., Maraval, A., Rolland, O., Martinet, L., L'Faqihi‐Olive, F.‐E., Turrin, C.‐O., Caminade, A.‐M., Fournié, J.‐J., Majoral, J.‐P., Poupot, R. Design of phosphorylated dendritic architectures to promote human monocyte activation. FASEB J. 20, 2339–2351 (2006)